Blogging

7 Other Ways to Drive Even More Traffic to Your Blog

Blog traffic.

Ugh!

7 Other Ways to Drive Even More Traffic to Your Blog

If you’re a new blogger then you know trying to generate traffic is freakin’ hard.  And it’s not like you’re trying either. You know exactly what to do to drive visitors to your blog.

You know Pinterest is the way many bloggers are growing their blog traffic so what do you do? You jump on the Pinterest train and start pinning the crap out of your content.

You also heard that Facebook groups are a goldmine for traffic, so you start joining every and any group you think your target audience hangs out.

Okay.

You know the common ways to bring traffic to your blog. But, it’s just not working. No one is commenting, you aren’t getting many shares, and you barely have any followers; so, what gives?

What are you dong wrong?

Nothing really. You’re just not doing ALL the things you could be for driving traffic back to your blog.

Now before I get into my post, I know full well that SEO and keywords are a HUGE help in generating traffic to your blog.

The thing with SEO is that it takes time for it to work. For me, it took around four or five months before one of my posts to rank on the first page of Google.

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But trying to fit SEO in the first three months of blogging shouldn’t be your sole focus. Instead, be natural and write for your audience!

Okay.

So what other ways besides the common ways can you get more blog traffic? Here are seven other ways that helped me and will help you now!

1. Use Your Site’s Name in Your Comment

Okay.

When I found out about this traffic generating trick, I couldn’t believe how great and quick it worked.

Whenever you leave a comment, on the spot for your name, put your name and your site’s name too.

It would look like this:

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I use the | spacer instead of the @ symbol (sorry, my brain can’t think of the real names of those).

The @ symbol can be used, but with some commenting programs, it’s viewed as a spammy comment and puts your comment in spam.

I’ve had much more success using the | symbol.

When I comment, I noticed I get a bit more traffic back to my site, which rocks because every little thing counts right?

2. Post More Often

I’m sure you’ve heard the opposite of what I’m about to tell you. That it’s much better to post one great long and value-filled post rather than two or three tinier and more fluffy type posts.

Well, that’s not the whole story.

I see it like this:

Instead of posting great posts once a week or once a month, post good posts twice a week or more.

In the beginning when you have your new blog, you need pages on your site. Google needs to index your posts. You want people to stay on your site longer to improve your bounce rate. All of these metrics help improve your overall blog’s profile and helps you with growing your traffic (because you can promote more).

Now, why would I say this when I’m a freelance writer?

I mean, I get paid to provide some hella good long-form content to my clients.

But, I know for a fact that the more I posted, i.e. the more frequent I posted per week, the more traffic I generated.

For awhile I’ve been writing a post once a week. Most of these posts are informational, actionable and full of great tips.

My pageviews for September dropped from 21k to 17k. Ouch!

Last week was the first week I posted twice.

Within a day of doing this, my pageviews went from 17k to 18k. Now, it’s not a huge jump, but at least it’s going in the right direction.

So, take it from me, post more often!! Try to post at least 1k words for each post, though.

You still want quality for each post you publish. If I could, I would post three times a week. But, I also have another blog where I post once a week and I have my client work.

And I’m a mom first 🙂

But I always make a goal to write two posts on Twins Mommy.

3. Guest Post

An easy way to find a new audience is to guest post. Guest posting just means writing a post on someone else’s blog.

There are many places where you can get paid at least $100 when you guest post too. Win-win there!

For me, since I get paid to write, it’s hard for me to find the time to guest post, but I’m trying to make this a priority.

I recently became a contributor for Huffington Post and will hopefully have my post published soon. I also had a guest post on Living for Naptime, and I’m working hard on two other ones.

The goal is to find a blog to guest post on that is more established than yours. They have more traffic, more subscribers and aren’t a new blog.

But, that’s not to say that you can’t guest post on those blogs. It just might not bring in a lot of traffic in the end.

Find out how popular a site is. As an example, here’s mine:

The higher the domain and page authority, the more popular and established your blog is. For the normal blogger, if your DA is 30+ that’s good, 40+ is very good, and anything over 50+ is great.

As a comparison, here’s Alexa’s site profile for Single Moms Income:

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This is only a rough guideline when viewing other blog’s DA and PA. It’s pretty neat though, to see how their site or even your site looks like in Google’s eyes (and I have no idea why my spam score is so dang high! Twins Mommy is an aged domain but the content on this site before mine wasn’t spammy at all. So I have no clue why it’s high?)

You can use this to help decide where you want to guest post if you want.

4. Feature Other Bloggers

One of the things I did early on and that helped me grow my blog quick was to do round up posts and feature other bloggers.

In the beginning, since you don’t have a lot of content, you’re going to be linking to external blogs, so why not feature those bloggers too?

One of my first roundups was 22 Freelance Services You Can Offer as a Stay-At-Home Mom. From here I made sure to tag the bloggers I mentioned in my tweets. This helped me reach a new audience if the blogger RT’d my post or at least opened a door of communication with the blogger.

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So, go ahead and feature other mommy bloggers and let them know! I love it when I receive an email letting me know that my Twins Mommy blog was featured!

5. Offer Help in Facebook Groups

Facebook groups are awesome for traffic generation. If you belong to a group where your target audience hangs out and if the group has promo threads, then you can promote your post in front of your ideal reader.

But, did you know that you can also generate more blog traffic by helping other bloggers and not just by using the promo threads? The trick is not to make it look spammy.

This is what I mean by spammy: Someone asks a question on how to use Pinterest to bring traffic to their blog and like ten people comment leaving blog posts, email courses, products and more.

Yeah, not the best way.

A better way is to give value when you answer a question a blogger has. This is how it works. If you notice a question in a FB group that you can help out, provide a response that doesn’t promote your blog in any way, but rather, promotes your knowledge.

Here’s a question I saw in a group recently:

screen_shot_2016-10-05_at_10_41_05_pmThere are a lot of ways to increase your inbox open and click-through rate so I thought I would help her out by offering a tip:

spam-trigger-words

As you can see not only did the blogger who asked the question responded to my comment, but other bloggers were thankful for that tip.

Now, how does that bring traffic to your site? Well, if the blogger or anyone is interested in getting to know you more, they can click on your name and find out more about you.

And if you’re smart, you would have updated your personal profile to include your blog!

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People can then click and look at your blog 🙂 BOOM! Traffic.

6. Email Your Subscribers Weekly

Do you have an email list yet? If you want to start monetizing your site, you should start a list ASAP. But, don’t get in the habit of emailing them periodically.

A lot of bloggers email infrequently even when they have a product or are monetizing their blog. Why? Well, I’m not sure but maybe they feel they can’t provide value every week or sending more than one email a week is way too much in their opinion.

In either case, if you want to build a loyal tribe of followers, you need to make that connection on a weekly basis. Don’t be scared to email your list multiple times a week if you’re selling products.

But don’t go crazy.  Three times a week is pushing it, but if you “train” your list, they will come to expect an email from you in their inbox.

And it’s a great way to let your subscribers know what’s happening on your blog.  With my emails I tell my subscribers about my latest blog post and I try hard to also provide more tips and value that you can’t find on the blog.

7. Network

One of the best ways to get traffic to your blog is to network with other bloggers in your niche. When I started Twins Mommy, I didn’t know many mommy bloggers at all.

I was and still am following the big influencers like Allison from Wonderlass, Melyssa Griffin, Caitilin Bacher and Kristen from Believe in a Budget.

I had to search on Pinterest and Facebook for more mommy blogs and mompreneur blogs to start to follow.

But, once I found them I was immediately welcomed by this wonderful group of mom bosses. And that opened the door for me to feature them on my blog.

Collaborate

I love collaborating with other bloggers. It’s like two bloggers are stronger than one. And it’s like we aren’t competing either even if we are in the same niche and have the same target audience. We are all here to help each other out and to share our tips with a bigger audience.

Around three or four months after starting Twins Mommy, Candis of Smart Mom Blogger was letting people know that she was doing these 10-minute webinars for mommy bloggers. I signed up to participate, and a few weeks later we did our little webinar.

She later used these as a lead magnet for a while to help her grow your email list. But, it also helped me reach a new audience and showed my sweet Pinterest skills 🙂

Email Them

If you want to learn more about another blogger, go ahead and sign up for their email list and email them. Ask them a question and get their advice.

Every day I get replies from my welcome email series asking for my advice, and I love it. They enjoy my emails and love my content.

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If you’re new to blogging, go ahead and email another mommy blogger and start a relationship. You never know, doing that can turn into doing joint webinars or interviews. And the more you reach a new audience, the more traffic you’ll generate for your blog.

Traffic Doesn’t Always Come Easy

If you follow me, then you know I have my struggles with generating more traffic. SEO and backlinks can really help your blog get noticed and get traffic.

But that takes time and it takes nurturing.

And with all the other common ways to gain traffic, it can still be a challenge for many to reach even 5k pageviews.

That’s why these other seven ways to drive more traffic to your blog can totally help you out. The biggest takeaway from all this is to connect with your target audience and connect with bloggers in your niche. It’s a little easier when we band together!

Over to you – did this help you out? How do you drive traffic to your blog?

 

Need More Help Growing Your Blog Traffic? Check Out Ready Set Blog For Traffic

Leave a Reply

173 Comments

Elna, this post has all the goodies – but a question – I am part of some FB Groups, which have been GREAT for my traffic as a new blogger, however, sometimes I am not sure if I am attracting the right traffic. I am trying to find my audience still, and sometimes it’s hard to know who they are when you are relying on the support of Groups because it’s based on you helping each other.Reply to Sierra
Hi Sierra, I would be careful with the FB groups of share for a share. Instead I would focus on Pinterest for marketing your content or be in FB groups where your readers are!Reply to Elna
Hi Elna! Thanks so much for this helpful post! I have a question for you: when you feature another blogger (I am doing my first recipe roundup), should you email them beforehand and ask their permission or just provide a link in your post and maybe tag them on social media? I don’t want to step on any toes and I’d love to build some relationships at the same time. I have emailed the list of bloggers but haven’t heard back from all of them yet and don’t know if I should wait for all of their responses or not. Thanks for your help!Reply to Missy
Hi Missy, If you feature other blogs and bloggers you don’t have to ask permission. What I do is once the post is live I tag them on Twitter or FB to let them know I featured them! If you want to do a roundup and ask for others to contribute a quote, then yes, email them prior and let them know your plan and question!Reply to Elna
That’s so helpful! Thanks! I was worried that anytime I did a roundup, I’d need to contact each blogger. That would probably keep me from doing them very often since it is extremely time-consuming. Have a great day!Reply to Missy
Thanks for the tips Elna! I just started today and it’s all a little overwhelming but feeling hopeful!Reply to Kate
Hi Kate! Congrats on starting a blog! Yes, it’s overwhelming but you can do it! I’m here to help too!Reply to Elna
Thanks for the tips. I’m a newbie. I get discouraged some times but I will keep working at it!Reply to Dasia
Hi Dasia, So happy to hear you are not discouraged and you are keeping on! I’m here if you need help!Reply to Elna
These are great tips! I just started a blog and I’m trying to figure out how to get people to actually view my website. I’m for sure going to use your advice and try making connections with other college bloggers like me!Reply to Megan
Hi Megan! That’s awesome! Yes, connecting is key to making you blog grow! Good luck!Reply to Elna
Hi Elna! Thanks for these great tips. Learned a lot. Connecting with other bloggers is my new goal now. Thanks again.Reply to Manas
Hi Manas! Yes! That’s the backbone to a strong and successful blog. Have fun networking and connecting with other bloggers!Reply to Elna
Thanks for this! I think it’ll be really helpful for me!Reply to Felly
Thank you Elna for this helpful tips. I have been learning a lot from you.Reply to Grace
Hey Grace! That’s great to know! Glad you stopped over here!Reply to Elna
So good. Definitely working on the guest posting angle and I’m going to try some of these other ones, too! Thanks!Reply to Erica
Hi Erica! That’s awesome! Yes, guest blogging is a great strategy to broaden your audience reach!Reply to Elna
Thanks for the awesome tips! I’ve been using the @ sign when commenting, but now I’m going to switch to the spacer. I didn’t even know how to use it before reading this, but now that I found it, I realize it looks much better.Reply to Tonya
Hey Tonya! It does, doesn’t it? I thought so too! Glad you are using it and finding other ways to boost blog traffic!Reply to Elna
Helen |NomadWithANotebook Thanks Elna for all your hard work to help other bloggers… I have just set up a new travel / life change blog and working hard to build a following via social media etc. It is great to get more tips and hints and just keep hoping that with time and work the traffic will grow! Keep up all your hard work, HelenReply to Helen
Hi Helen, Congrats on your new travel blog! How exciting! Yes, keep your head down and create amazing content and attract the right traffic!!Reply to Elna
Hey Elna, As I am about to step off the proverbial cliff and into the world of blogging, I am sooo glad I bumped into your very informative blog. Also just launched my website. Learned so much from it; now of course to apply the wisdom you so generously share. Deeply grateful, Errol.Reply to Errol
Hey Errol! Thanks so much! Congrats on starting a blog! The fun parts begins 🙂 Can’t wait to read all about you on your new blog!Reply to Elna
Loved reading the info – going to try this out! I’m a first time blogger newbie so I can use all the advice I can get! Any other tips? I’d love it if someone can check out my blog and see what needs more work? I’m hoping to grow more by trying all these out! Again Thank You!Reply to Nicoll
Hi Nicoll! That’s great and thanks for coming over! I do have a lot of blog posts about increasing traffic. Just search for “blog traffic” on my blog to find some!Reply to Elna
I read this carefully, I know that getting organic traffic is very hard and there are many ways which promise to get you a real traffic but all are in vain. The real champ is the content and how gain trust to your profile via your comments, replays and posts. In addition of helping others as you said. I really like this post and how simple it is. Thank you Elna 🙂Reply to Khalid
Hi Khalid, You’re welcome! Glad this post resonated with you. Getting traffic from any place is a challenge when you’re a new blogger. Organic traffic is the hardest and takes the longest!Reply to Elna
This was SOOOO helpful! I never knew the name trick.. I will try that from now on!!!Reply to Moriah
Hi Moriah, You’re welcome! So glad you found a hack to get more eyes to your blog!Reply to Elna
Hey Elena I just started a blog on crafts, baking, and books and I have no subscribers I am reading all I can on getting traffic but none of it will work any suggestions? Also your blog was still really helpful. Thanks Sunnydaze By the way I am not sure if the website address is right sense I don’t have a domain?Reply to Sunnydaze
Sunnydaze, I was reading your comment and getting ready to jump over to your blog but I see your not exactly ready yet. When you get on board, let me know and I’ll subscribe. CreativeDebsReply to Debbie
Hi! Thanks so much! First get a domain and start writing some posts and then get on social media! From there you can get readers!Reply to Elna
Thank you for sharing honest tips here. I’ve worked in the SEO industry about a decade earlier and things changed after I left it for quite a while. And also, sometimes, some things just don’t work as much as it worked for the other. Hopefully, after me getting broke, I can get back up to hosting my blog and avoiding free hosted ones. I know it’s a bad move but no one to blame. Thanks, again!Reply to Precious
Hi! Thanks for stopping by! Yes, it is a challenge to grow your blog on a free hosted plan, but it’s better than not eh? You can always change from free to a self-hosted plan when you’re ready!Reply to Elna
Informative!Nice Job Elna! I always take SEO into consideration when I plan to write a new article on my blog. Keyword Analysis is for sure of great concern. What’s more, interactions on social media and backlinks play roles as important as keywords. I’d like to show my views. To attract free traffic, sites like StumbleUpon, Digg, Quora and Reddit are worth a shot. Also, paid guest post is a quick way to draw more traffic. For example, I’ve done a guest post on FonePaw, a tech site and it gets quick traffic than the others do.Reply to Bernardo
Hi Bernardo, Great tips. Yes, SEO is essential in the long run but in the beginning, leverage social media for traffic. I’m not a big fan of bookmarking sites like StumbleUpon but if you find your audience resides there or on Reddit then that’s where you have to hang out! For me, my audience is primarily on Pinterest and Facebook! Ditto on guest posting! It’s a great traffic source!Reply to Elna
Beautiful and inspiring post for all bloggers and website owners. Thank you very much Elna for sharing such a wonderful post 🙂Reply to Faraz
Love your honesty and easy to follow (and proven) steps to get more traffic Elna! It is important to be consistent and work on content that is both high quality, helpful and fun all at the same time! I have seen better results in the past few months and it encourages me to keep networking, engaging with others and be part of awesome Facebook groups like yours! Thank you for the inspiration & motivation ?Reply to Karla
Hi Karla, Thanks so much! Glad these tips will help you with growing your traffic! Thanks for joining my FB group!Reply to Elna
Thanks for the great ideas. Myself and 2 friends started a blog in the last month and are struggling to get more traffic to our site. We are defiantly going to use these!Reply to Melina
Hey Melina, That’s awesome. Crossing my fingers your traffic grows and grows and grows!Reply to Elna
*definitelyReply to Melina
Hi, Elna! This is a fantastic post! As a newish blogger, you definitely drive home the fact that we need to reach out to other bloggers. Something that I think is quite intimidating to so many of us! But as a successful blogger, it’s nice that you encourage it and throw out some suggestions! Love the blog!Reply to Nicole
Hi Nicole! Thanks so much! Yes networking is the LIFE of your blog for sure! You can’t do this alone!Reply to Elna
Hi! Thank you so much for this article. I can’t wait to read your other stuff! I’ve been an online direct sales retailer for over a year, but my son was recently diagnosed with special needs and I needed a way to really kick things up a notch. I started my blog a few weeks ago with absolutely NO knowledge of what I was doing… and I’m still pretty lost! I can’t wait to try out your tips!Reply to Katie
Hey Katie! That’s great! Yes, learning to blog is a big thing for sure! Have you considered my traffic course? It will help you with the most important thing…getting eyes to your blog so that you can start making money!Reply to Elna
Elna, thank you so much for some practical advice. I feel like all I see is random ideas, and nothing actionable! I will definitely be back! 🙂Reply to Shawna
Shawna! Thanks so much. Glad my information is focused 🙂Reply to Elna
oh these are all great! As I just launched my blog I’m going to be working super hard at gaining readers/pinners/followers! Great PostReply to Frances
This post helped me so much! A lot of great tips that I never heard from other bloggers! Thanks so much! Pinned & shared! ?Reply to Sherri
Hey Sherri, So glad you found it useful! ElnaReply to Elna
Thank you so much for all of the HELPFUL information! I’m learning a lot everyday and your blog has been very helpful! I hit a wall and your blog kickstarted me again!Reply to Sue
Hey Sue, That’s the best comment I’ve heard all day! I’m so happy you are growing your blog! Yay!Reply to Elna
Thank you for sharing this info! I have been blogging for over a year, and my traffic’s total is 1300. It has been a major struggle to get the exposure I need. I will definitely try these steps and see how it goes. I’ve already begun posting more frequently (2x a week) to drive traffic. My weakness is networking, and most of your steps require some form of networking. I will have to get out of my comfort zone if I want my blog to become my business.Reply to La-Tisha
Hey La-Tisha! Keep at it and it will get better! The important thing, in my opinion, is to try as many different ways as possible – if I may suggest one, besides all the social media and everything that you’ve probably heard, is submitting your page to stumbleupon.com – I was struggling with getting traffic as well, and this method got me a couple of hundred of visitors in 2 days – you might want to check it out!:)Reply to Damjan
Trying to get traffic to my new site, will be implementing these tips for some improvement, thanks for sharing!Reply to Business
Hello Elna, I really love your post and I’m definitely using the tips!Reply to Eunice
Hi Elna, thanks for putting this together. As a new blogger I appreciate all the advice you give. Love this post!Reply to Shirley
Hi Shirley, So glad you found some good traffic tips!Reply to Elna
Wow! Fabulous piece of work. I love all your tips, especially those with examples. I have been fishing around for tips and tricks to grow my blog traffic and this post simply is very informative. I personally love reading about the journey a blogger/entrepreneur makes and am all set to start setting up the time to read your posts from the beginning 🙂 Loved it!Reply to Vidya
These tips are wonderful! Thank you for the advice!Reply to Morgan
Hi Morgan, You’re welcome! I hope your blog takes off!Reply to Elna
These are awesome tips!! ThanksReply to Kelly
Great tips! I look forward to using them on my new blog!Reply to Lo
Thanks Elna for providing such a useful information. I like your idea about commenting on others blog. I hope this will be helpful to increase my blog traffic.Reply to mughees
Hi! Thank you! Glad you found a good tip!Reply to Elna
ohhh this post rocks! Thank you so much ! I have a new blog and Im trying to get more traffic. I def. plan on doing a roundup of some blogs i love. Thank you again!Reply to Amy
Hi Amy, That’s great to hear! Yes, round ups are quite easy to do and it helps with getting your share count ups!Reply to Elna
Hii Elna Thanks for this great post. I think SEO is the best way to increase traffic. just focus on great content, high-quality backlinks, and social shares.Reply to Rajvir
Hi! Yes, SEO is key, but it takes a long time and there’s a lot of research that goes into it. If you can utilize social media and even SEO on Pinterest, that’s better for newer bloggers!Reply to Elna
Thank you so much for taking time to write this article! I am new to the blogging world and searching for tips and tricks to implement. This has been wonderful and very easy to follow. I can’t wait to start!Reply to Stephanie
Hi Stephanie, You’re welcome! So happy you found some tips to help you drive more traffic to your blog!Reply to Elna
I really loved this post it really helped me get great ideas. It has been a slow go for my traffic to even reach 50 a day or even 20 or 30 a day Im around the 10 to 18 users a day that is sad. Hopefully your traffic generating teqniques will help.Reply to Brittany
Hi Brittany, I took a look at your blog. It seems that your niche is varied. It might be a good idea to niche down and focus on one topic (maybe Christian living?) Then join relevant group boards in that niche. Good luck!Reply to Elna
Wow! I never thought of adding the name of my blog with my name or featuring other bloggers on my blog! I will definitely start implementing these tips!Reply to Manda
Hi Manda! That’s great you found a new traffic tip 🙂 I love doing this and now it’s just second nature.Reply to Elna
I’m 5 months in and still struggling with blog traffic. I know it takes some time, though. I started frequenting Facebook groups and that’s helping a bit. My next plan of attack is guest posting. I love your idea of doing round-up posts, so I think I will give that a try. Did you have to clear it with the other bloggers that you featured? I know it’s just a link to their site with a nice introduction and explanation, but I don’t want to step on any toes. Thank you, Elna!!Reply to Amy
Hi Amy, I usually tag them after the fact and they enjoy it. I’ve had only one person say not to feature them… but most of everyone wants the backlink and traffic. Try it out! Be on the lookout for my 3 tier traffic generation course soon!Reply to Elna
Hi Elna, What a great post! I just started my blog and the struggle of gaining followers and subscribers seems like an uphill battle! I know I have to be patient and I am doing lots of reading in this area but your tips are so great! I will be sure to start them ASAP!! Thanks so much!!Reply to Michelle
Hi Michelle! You’re welcome and so happy you found some useful tips. Growing your blog is a challenge for sure but consistency is key! Good luck and email me if you need help!Reply to Elna
Hello Elna, I have enjoyed this information and will be using some of these suggestions, as a new blogger myself it is very helpful to know someone cares enough to share info. Gosh I am at a loss to know if I am on the right track with my bog and probably not the first person ever to feel this way..Reply to LindaWolfe
Hi Linda! Thanks so much and good luck for growing your blog 🙂Reply to Elna
I really loved this post! So many great real things to do. Ive been blogging for two years now but still find it hard to get traffic to my blog!! i wont give up though. Thanks for writting such a great helpful post xxxReply to Grace
Grace! Thank you so much. Yes, it does take commitment for sure to get more traffic to your blog, but I know you have it in you!Reply to Elna